October 14th 30. Blood Night: The Legend Of Mary Hatchet (2009) First time viewing. Decided to give this a try after a couple of posters reviews, never fancied it before. Fun little film, plenty of blood and nudity, predictable plot though and unlikeable characters but fun way to spend an hour and a half.
October 1st 01. Night Gallery: The Cemetery October 2nd 02. Night Gallery: Little Black Bag October 3rd 03. Night Gallery: Finnegan's Flight October 4th 04. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) October 5th 05. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) October 6th 06. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) October 7th 07. Night Gallery: Class of '99 October 8th 08. Night Gallery: The Return of the Sorcerer October 9th 09. Night Gallery: Aunt Ada October 10th 10. Night Gallery: A Question of Fear October 11th 11. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) October 12th 12. The Shining (1980) October 13th 13. The Fog (1980) October 14th 14. Christine (1983) October 15th 15. They Live (1988)
October 15: World War Z (2013): I had fun with this one. The cgi wasn't awesome but the movie was fast paced and I never was bored. It's basically a big action flick but with zombies. Nice break from the usual zombie stuff. Bride of Frankenstein (1935): I HATE that freakin' screechy voiced woman that keeps showing up throughout the first half of the film! I wanted the monster to pop her annoying head off! ....but I still enjoy the second half of the film a lot so in the end it's still a positive experience.
Oct 15 - Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhatten This is pretty bad but Ive always found it watchable with some good moments. I think the ending is pretty awful just like Part VII. Looks nice on blu
October 1st: Friday the 13th (1980) (3/5) October 2nd: Bereavement (2/5) October 4th: Friday the 13th Part 2 (3/5) October 4th: Switchblade Romance (5/5) October 5th: Return of the Living Dead (1985) (5/5) October 6th: Gravity (3D) (5/5) October 8th: And Soon the Darkness (2010) (3/5) October 11th: Friday the 13th Part 3 in 2D (2/5) October 11th: Suspiria (5/5) October 15th: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2.5/5): This had some cool moments, but overall was just dopey and not nearly as cool as it wanted to be. Hansel and Gretel Get Baked was much better.
Una O'Conner? No way, she's the best! She always seemed to be playing that type of character. Same in The Invisible Man, I think. And she kept trying to protect de Havilland as Maid Marion in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Killing Birds [a.k.a. Zombie 5: Killing Birds] (Claudio Lattanzi & Joe D'Amato, 1988) The final piece of the supposed Zombie sequel puzzle. Never mind the fact that this was made a year before After Death (a.k.a. Zombie 4), or that it has almost nothing to do with zombies. It's mostly about eye gouging and throat slitting/ripping. To be quite honest, though, this is the most coherent of the last 3 Zombie "sequels". It's atmospherically staged, the actors seem like they're making an effort, and there's an actual attempt to develop characters and a story. There's some decent gore, an effective fire stunt, and a really great scene involving a generator. Plus, anything with Robert Vaughn has to be good, right?
10/2/13 The Walking Dead “The Suicide King” (2013) The Walking Dead “Home” (2013) The Walking Dead “I Ain’t A Judas” (2013) 10/4/13 The Walking Dead "Clear" (2013) The Walking Dead "Arrow on the Doorpost" (2013) The Walking Dead "Prey" (2013) 10/5/13 The Walking Dead "This Sorrowful Life" (2013) The Walking Dead "Welcome to the Tombs" (2013) The Fog (1980) Prince of Darkness (1987) 10/6/13 Psycho II (1983) Psycho III (1986) 10/7/13 Baron Blood (1972) Lisa and the Devil (1974) 10/9/13 American Horror Story: Asylum "Welcome To Briarcliff" (2012) American Horror Story: Asylum "Tricks & Treats" (2012) 10/11/13 Dracula (1958) The Vampire Lovers (1970) Twins of Evil (1971) 10/12/13 Asylum (1972) 10/13/13 American Horror Story: Asylum “Nor’easter” (2012) American Horror Story: Asylum “I Am Anne Frank Part 1” (2012) American Horror Story: Asylum “I Am Anne Frank Part 2” (2012) American Horror Story: Asylum “The Origins of Monstrosity” (2012) 10/14/13 Race With the Devil (1975)
30.) Halloween Night (2006) 2 / 5 (DVD) I sort of like Asylum films, especially their slasher films. They're awful, but they're kind of guilty pleasures (especially Detour and When A Killer Calls). This one is pretty awful, but I can't say I didn't enjoy it. But I can't give it more than a 2 rating. Had to LOL at the "true story" behind this one, which is described in the bonus features. What a joke. 31.) Shiver (2012) 2 / 5 (DVD) This was a pretty average little cop drama. Some decent cat-and-mouse between Danielle Harris and John Jarratt. Danielle Harris actually gives a really impressive performance here, maybe even her best. The last five minutes or so were a little disturbing. But it just wasn't my type of movie. 32.) Amusement (2008) 4 / 5 (blu-ray) I love anthology films, and I think this is a really fun one. The second story is obviously the stand-out. Too bad it didn't go to theaters, especially considering a lot of the crap that was littering the movie screens back then. It didn't deserve to be unceremoniously dumped to disc like that. 33.) Retribution (1987) 3 / 5 (DVD) Some really crazy gore in this one. However, at 106 minutes, it could stand to be about 20 minutes shorter. I found myself drifting off a bit throughout the last half. Previous movies: 1.) Return To Sleepaway Camp (2008) 2.) The Burning (1981) 3.) Dead Before Dawn (2012) 4.) Jack Ketchum's The Lost (2006) 5.) Hallows' Eve (2013) 6.) Helter Skelter (1976) 7.) Arachnophobia (1990) 8.) 100 Bloody Acres (2012) 9.) Scarecrow (2013) 10.) Wither (2012) 11.) My Babysitter's A Vampire (2010) 12.) Phantasm II (1988) 13.) Sorority House Massacre (1986) 14.) Sorority House Massacre II (1990) 15.) Return Of The Living Dead III (1993) 16.) Curse Of Chucky (2013) 17.) Static (2012) 18.) Nothing Left To Fear (2013) 19.) Strangeland (1998) 20.) The Return Of The Living Dead (1985) 21.) The Absent (2011) 22.) Silver Bullet (1985) 23.) Night Of The Demons (1988) 24.) Pet Sematary (1989) 25.) Pet Sematary II (1992) 26.) Eyes Of Laura Mars (1978) 27.) House Of Fears (2007) 28.) The Fly (1986) 29.) The Fear: Halloween Night (1999)
October 15th: Psychic Killer Actually better than I remembered it. It definitely didn't make my list of favourites, but I'm surprised that it's rated so low on IMDB. It has that delightfully 70's brand of camp, and the cast is fun and engaging (including Mary Wilcox as a naughty nurse). It also has some good-on-paper horror moments, which are unfortunately not utilised for maximum impact or shock value (such as the killer being seen in the backseat in the rear view mirror or a dead body on a meat hook being propelled toward the camera). Verdict: Not quite Patrick/10
Yeah she was annoying as hell in Invisible Man too but she fit in with the tone of that movie a bit better. I assumed that people must enjoy her "performances" but I can't stand her!
** = first time viewing 10/01 - Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) 5/10 10/02 - Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) 6/10 10/03 - The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) 4/10 ** 10/04 - Black Sunday (1960) ** 10/05 - World War Z [Unrated] (2013) 6/10 ** 10/05 - Stripperland (2011) 4/10 ** 10/06 - A Bay of Blood (1971) 8/10 ** 10/07 - Female Vampire (1973) 1/10 ** 10/08 - Student Bodies (1981) 5/10 ** 10/09 - Return to Horror High (1987) 6/10 ** 10/10 - Kill Baby, Kill (1966) ** 10/11 - Lisa and the Devil (1973) ** 10/11 - The Hitchhiker: A Whole New You (1991) 1/10 ** 10/12 - The Hitchhiker: True Believer (1986) 4/10 ** 10/12 - The Hitchhiker: W.G.O.D. (1985) 5/10 ** 10/12 – Doctor Jekyll vs. The Wolfman (1972) 6/10 ** 10/13 - Crimson (The Man with the Severed Head) (1973) 1/10 ** Doctor Jekyll vs. The Wolfman (1972) 6/10 ** – Code Red DVD Paul Naschy returns as Waldemar Daninsky for the fifth time as he searches for a cure to his full moon maddness by visiting the grandson of the infamous Dr. Jekyll. The first act is a poorly made snooze-fest. There is way too much talking and the story is a bit of a mess. Worst of all, they don’t effectively sell the relationship of Waldemar and his love interest. All that is forgiven because the final hour is a riotous sleazefest. You get more than few Naschy werewolf transitions. Best of all is seeing Naschy’s el Hombre Lobo on the streets of London and later his Mr. Hyde is strutting around like Jack the Ripper. The way in which Dr. Jekyll attempts to cure Waldemar is fairly interesting as well. The Code Red DVD is more than serviceable and a must for Naschy fans. Crimson (The Man with the Severed Head) (1973) 1/10 ** A mad doctor performs a brain transplant on an injured criminal which leads to bad dialogue and pointless film. More crappy crime drama than horror, CRIMSON’s runtime is populated with annoying characters and inane dialogue. It also has some the dumbest science committed to film. Naschy's time onscreen is short and he only gets a few minutes as “creepy science project that is out for blood”. The Netflix streaming version is 85 minutes and has no nudity so I assume it’s censored. This has got to be Naschy’s worst film.
This one definitely lacks a lot of the genre elements that make most of Naschy's films so much fun. But you either saw an edited version or a PAL version. The Image NTSC DVD runs 89 minutes. DVDBeaver has some good info on what you might have missed: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/man_with_the_severed_head.htm
I have Arrow's release, but I have no idea how long it ran, or if there was any nudity, because I never made it to the end - what a boring, unenjoyable movie!
10.15.13 (20) My Soul to Take (2010) (Blu-ray) Hrm. I actually enjoyed this more on my first viewing two years ago. Craven is trying his hand at Psychological Horror while resurrecting the spirits of Scream and Shocker. The outcome is rather messy, and when all logic fails I guess the audience is supposed to fill in the gaps with the Psychological angle of the story. It works for David Lynch, but not here. Disappointing villain, one dimensional characters, fake-ish CGI blood and silly shenanigans. On the upside this was stylishly shot (love the 1990s vibe) with effective jump scares and great atmosphere.